First the good. It is cute, practical, and makes good coffee. I do believe the outer part of this pot is stainless steel, but the inside probably is not. It has the same look and feel of my aluminum camp percolator.Now the bad. It is very small. Now, the description says four cups. Then it says 200 ml. Here's the deal, you can only add 3/4 a cup of water to the reservoir as per the directions (leave 1 cm of space below the valve). So you will wind up with a little less than 3/4 a cup of coffee. Should I have read the description more carefully? Yes. I should have gotten my measuring cup and really checked. As cute as this is, I would NOT have paid $25 for it, especially since the interior of this pot is aluminum (the reason for the four stars instead of five, not the pots fault I didn't double check measurements).So if you really only drink ONE espresso shot a day, then this might be a nice little pot for you. But it was an expensive lesson for me and I'm disappointed.I have owned 2 other such gadget in the past and I must say that this is the Best Buy so far! Typically I don’t leave reviews due to my laziness but personally it will be unfair if I didn’t do so for this product. I have been using this for the past 2 weeks everyday- if you are someone who loves Espresso this is your best bet. I love the fact that I amable to add hot water at the bottom which saves brewing time (if you are someone like me who craves for a cup of coffee right after you step out of your bed) . I grind coffee bean every morning and add about 3 -4 full scoops of finely grounded coffee powder to make 2 cups of coffee. This tastes like the “filter coffee” that is extremely popular in South India. I also love the handle design as the previous ones I have owned in the past - the plastic handle will melt or get hot in the brewing process. I found the handle design to work perfect and didn’t experience it being hot in the past 2 weeks I have used. No complains yetAfter having a couple of the "primary" brand's versions, I decided to replace with this one. The 4 cup size is what drew me to this, it is the perfect size to make a 16oz "latte". Some warm milk a frother and this make the BEST drink and the extra ounce this delivers is the icing on the cake. I feel this is a big upgrade and I have had it for 6 months (use is ~twice/day) and it has held up better than the others I have had. The tapered design and the handle is also better that what I have had in the past. This is the best moka pot I have used after going through several prior to this one.5 stars for the coffee maker, 3 stars for the directions. I never had a stovetop coffee maker before, so I followed the directions written on the side of the box literally. It said to fill the funnel with coffee grounds. (Coffee grounds swell when wet - only fill the funnel to the line.) It said "When coffee starts to over flow from upper pot, remove it from stovetop and start to enjoy." I waited and waited, but it never overflowed from the upper pot. After watching some YouTube videos I realized they meant when it overflowed through the stem, not the upper pot (or maybe they meant "over flow TO the upper pot"?) So now I brew with the lid open so I can watch the coffee coming up. Basically, when it's done gurgling, it's done. Now that I know how to do it, I really like this coffee maker and expect to enjoy it for years to come.This stovetop express is good it has met all the criteria such as easy to use and clean. when you use the provided spoon that comes it you will achieve a wonderful flavor. However, I am concern about the heat damage of the handle and potential hazards. I post a picture above to share what would happen to handle ofter numerous usage from the stove. Don't get me wrong now! it does the work very well but with handle part being exposed to the fire and ruining it each time being use bring the overall of the stovetop expresso to 4 stars.LOVED this little stovetop rig! Brewed delish, strong, concentrated low-acid coffee that I’d pour into a cup of hot cocoa for my morning mocha. The coffee flavor was strong, thick & concentrated: not legally espresso but more than adequate to take care of my coffee needs. I used to work at Peets Coffee and did a HUGE amount of coffee & espresso tastings and trainings. I remember the high quality of the Italian stovetops but I bought this instead of the Italian-made aluminum ones because of aluminum’s possible connection to getting Alzheimer’s (no thanks!).I really wanted a stainless steel La Pavoni but I don’t have $600 or whatever the beast costs so I got this. I’d rather have a smaller concentrated amount of Joe than a big-a mug, so I bought this, at a verrrry reasonable price point.Little Dude worked like a champ...until one day last month, when I the sucker maybe got its pipe or valves clogged with coffee grounds. Not even sure if that’s the problem. Don’t know how to fix it. Kept flushing it out with water. Tried using different tools & micro brushes to get whatever is stuck ? in there out. Tried solvents. More flushing & brushing. Nuthin.I’m hoping the manufacturer will see this and help me out someway. Maybe send me some nozzle-floss or some kinda hoo-joo magic wand to get the thing flowing again. Worth a shot. I’m not gonna buy another one if this happens again. I’ve got a vintage, original early-1960s Chemex that I’ll start using again. IT still works.If it was working, I’d give it 4 or 5 stars,fer sure. But it’s not. So it gets only one star.Looks like a solid espresso maker, made two batches with it today and it worked as advertised. Seems to be well constructed, better than the IMUSA I used to use. I was a bit disappointed by the size, I read four cups and thought 32oz and in a couple of the pictures it looks pretty large, in realized it makes 8 ounces of espresso so that was a bit of a letdown but totally my fault for not reading the specs better.